Turn Coffee Creamer Into Icing With One Extra Ingredient

Coffee creamer is a staple that has expanded to include countless flavors from longstanding brands like Coffee-Mate and famous coffee brands like Starbucks. Its dairy richness and creamy consistency has come in handy outside of a cup of coffee acting as a substitute for heavy cream or milk in baked good batters, cocktails, and soups. You can take advantage of coffee creamer's consistency and flavor by turning it into icing with the help of powdered sugar.

Powdered sugar is the key ingredient in most icing recipes, combining with a mixture of butter, water, milk, cream cheese. There are numerous brands of coffee creamer, many of which are dairy-free, making a two-ingredient coffee creamer frosting a good option for vegan and lactose-intolerant diets. Plus, you can use the wealth of different flavors to pair with a diversity of cake recipes.

Powdered sugar will melt and thicken the coffee creamer easily in a mixing bowl. Since basic icing usually uses a mixture of milk and heavy cream, a two-ingredient icing with coffee creamer will need much higher ratios of dry to wet ingredients to achieve a thicker, creamier consistency. You can start with one or two tablespoons of creamer per cup of powdered sugar. Simply whisk the two together with a spoon or whisk until you've reached the desired consistency. If you need more creamer, add it a half-teaspoon at a time so as not to thin the frosting too much.

While coffee creamer and powdered sugar are all you need to create icing, it won't be the thickest, creamiest icing. Coffee creamer icing will have a consistency more like a glaze that is easily pourable and spreadable, hardening as it cools. It'd work especially well over pound cakes, or as a tasty decorative drizzle for cookies. If you want a thick, buttercream consistency, however, you can still use coffee creamer in similar ratios to the powdered sugar, but you'll also need to add a thickener like butter or shortening. When used in a buttercream icing, coffee creamer is almost more of a thinning and flavoring agent.

There are also plenty of additional ingredients you can add to a basic coffee creamer glaze to bolster its flavor. Citrus zest and juice, extracts, and baking spices are easy baking staples that add more complexity. If you're adding liquid ingredients, you'll need even more powdered sugar to maintain the desired thickness. For more depth of texture and flavor, stir chopped nuts, shredded coconut, or sprinkles into the icing.

You could use a coconut milk or coconut-flavored coffee creamer with powdered sugar, stirring in pecans and shredded coconut for a simplified take on the thick goopy icing we spread onto an Old-Fashioned German chocolate cake. Add lemon zest to the coffee creamer and powdered sugar for the glaze to pour over this lemon-glazed pound cake recipe.